The Rhode Island Turnpike and Bridge Authority’s board of directors on Wednesday morning approved a tolling schedule for the Sakonnet River Bridge that would put tolls on the bridge by July 1.

For drivers with a Rhode Island E-ZPass, the toll rate would be 75 cents for passage each way. The Rhode Island E-ZPass rate will be available to out-of-state drivers.

Drivers with a non-Rhode Island E-ZPass would pay a $3.75 toll rate. Drivers without an E-ZPass would be subject to the $3.75 toll charge, plus a $1.50 video surcharge for each crossing — a total of $5.25.

The surcharge covers the cost to video record driver’s vehicle’s license plate, and later identify their billing addresses, said David Darlington, the chairman of RITBA’s board of directors.

The approved plan allows for unlimited bridge crossings for each day. Rhode Island E-ZPass drivers would pay the fee once each way — a maximum of $1.50 each day.

Drivers can also use their E-ZPass transponders on the Newport Pell Bridge. That bridge will now also have a one charge per direction daily bridge crossing plan. The Rhode Island E-ZPass rate on the Newport Bridge will remain at 83 cents.

RITBA is moving forward with tolling because it must oversee and fund a four-bridge system, regardless of current legislative and legal action meant to overturn the 2012 decision.

The next steps include educating the public and persuading bridge users to buy transponders, which should cost around $20.95, according to Darlington, if drivers open their accounts with a $25 balance.

Rhode Island drivers who already use a transponder on the Newport Pell Bridge would be able to use it on the Sakonnet River Bridge, and vice versa.

E-ZPass transponders will likely become available at AAA locations throughout Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts.

Darlington said the authority is weighing whether to offer discounted or free transponders before Sakonnet tolling begins.

“There will be a public awareness campaign. You want them to know they’re being charged, because with open road tolling, it’s not obvious that they’re being charged,” Darlington said.

Darlington acknowledged the ongoing anti-toll push, but stated that RITBA does not get involved in policy decisions.

Drivers of smaller commercial vehicles, like landscaping trucks, and those pulling trailers will also receive a discounted toll rate. Those trucks will be charged the 83-cent residential rate, plus roughly another 40 cents per axle.

According to the approved plan, six-tire trucks are eligible for separate $100 monthly unlimited travel plans for each bridge.

“I don’t want to impose a toll on the Sakonnet River Bridge,” said RITBA board member Stephen Waluk, before seconding a motion to approve the toll schedule.

“I don’t think that it’s good for the economy of Newport County, but we need to look for the best possible situation.”

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Of the four bridges in the new East Bay Bridge System, the Sakonnet River Bridge is the most frequently traveled, with 39,000 bridge crossings each day. Tolling the bridge is expected to raise an addition $20 million to $23 million in annual revenue for RITBA.

Darlington admitted the exact revenue amount would be difficult to predict: “The math on setting rates is not a linear process, with a potential $5 million in revenue possibly lost because of offered discounts,” he said.

If the project moves forward, construction to install a $2.2 million all-electronic tolling system would begin by June, with concrete footings to be installed and steel already ordered for the overhead gantry.

STOP committee member Larry Fitzmorris spoke on behalf of the toll opponents at the meeting, calling the toll a regional transportation tax. He said the toll’s impact would be “systemic and deep” on the people who cross the bridge.

He said the effect can already be seen in the local business community, and “some have closed their businesses in anticipation of these tolls.”

“Obviously we’re attempting to reverse this decision,” he added.

Fitzmorris said the state needs to exercise a uniform transportation maintenance fund.

“The tolling of the Sakonnet, in our view, is merely paying to repair the Newport Bridge,” Fitzmorris said. “It makes sense on the surface of it. But it does not create consistent transportation policy.” He called the policy a “patch and Band-Aid approach.”

Fitzmorris reminded RITBA board members that legal issues surrounding the imposition of tolls are “unresolved.”

“The fight on the tolls is not over,” Fitzmorris said, adding that it continues in the Statehouse next Thursday. Fitzmorris urged residents and business owners to appear at the hearing.

“You better be there or otherwise they’re going to stick it to us,” he said.